Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

On the last bit of that question, the Senate just agreed to a government amendment around that section of the bill, so I think that probably has addressed in the second part of your remarks, Senator Roberts. Under the section 61 amendment, the therapeutic goods information is released by the TGA under the act for health, safety and transparency purposes. This measure supports the timely release of therapeutic goods information by the TGA, which is vital for protecting the health and safety of patients, frontline healthcare workers and the public. The amendment to this measure, which we just passed, appropriately balances the provision of natural justice with the need to ensure the timely release of health and safety information.

The amendment does so by limiting the circumstances in which the natural justice hearing rule is excluded for releases of information to the public under section 61(5C) of the act. A natural justice hearing rule is not excluded for information released under the provision unless there is a safety related issue, and, in some circumstances, the secretary may still observe the requirements of the natural justice hearing rule. The amendment effectively codifies the TGA's current practice as delaying or preventing the release of information would be contrary to the public interest.